FRRPD directors scrap bids on janitorial service to redo scope

Oroville >> A Feather River Recreation and Park District director's discussion with a bidder for janitorial and project services after bidding was closed played a role Tuesday night in the rejection of all three bids under consideration.

The directors also wanted to fine-tune the scope of the requests for proposals. Also, the inclusion or exclusion of maintenance at Bedrock Park was a consideration.

The bids were placed on the table for discussion and possible action. First, General Manager Ann Willmann gave a presentation giving the amounts of the bids, both with or without Bedrock Park being included.

Bidders were the Work Training Center, the city of Oroville and Amy's Cleaning. Amy's Cleaning was the low bidder, but Willmann said the company specified cleaning only.

The impact of hiring a consultant for the next fiscal year would be close to $80,000.

Director Marcia Carter, who has been on the committee looking into hiring a consultant for janitorial and maintenance, said she is excited and noted the bathrooms and parks have been really neglected.

"We're trying to do the best for our parks ...," she said.

Carter also mentioned the Work Training Center takes pride in its work.

But she felt the last bid they had, $79,000, was high.

Carter spoke with a representative of the Work Training Center, who apparently had a misconception about how many bathrooms would have to be cleaned and maintained. She told the representative it would be fewer, and the representative said they could drop the bid to $57,000.

"That's a huge amount of savings," she said.

Board attorney Jeff Carter intervened, saying the board just changed the nature of its request, and by working with a contractor could be a violation of the request.

Willmann said the number of bathrooms was listed on the bids.

Jeff Carter recommended the directors reject all the bids without prejudice, redo the proposal and start over.

There was also discussion about other maintenance staff and how that could be changed with a janitorial manager.

The attorney recommended the board focus on what facilities it wants to benefit under janitorial services.

Willmann added that everything is tied to the budget, and pointed out that once the board signs a contract, it's binding.

While there was talk about starting the process over, one man in the audience asked, if individual board members should be talking to individual bidders.

The attorney said that any time a board member has one-on-one contact with a contracting person or employee, the director is at risk. He said it's important to avoid the appearance of impropriety.

Chairwoman Victoria Coots said there was no ill intent on Marcia Carter's part.

The board unanimously rejected the bids without prejudice in order to redo the proposal request.